Meremoth definitions

exaltations, heights, a priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Neh. 12:3), to whom were sent the sacred vessels (Ezra 8:33) belonging to the temple. He took part in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:4).

(1) Son of Uriah (Ezr 8:33), who was head of the 7th course of priests appointed by David (1Ch 24:10, Hakkoz = Koz; compare Ne 3:4,21). The family of Koz were among those unable to prove their pedigree on the return from Babylon, and were therefore deposed as polluted (Ezr 2:61,62). Meremoth's division of the family must, however, have been scatheless, for he is employed in the temple after the return as weigher of the gold and the vessels (Ezr 8:33), a function reserved for priests alone (Ezr 8:24-28). He takes a double part in the reconstruction under Nehemiah, first as a builder of the wall of the city (Ne 3:4), then as a restorer of that part of the temple abutting on the house of Eliashib the priest (Ne 3:21); "Marmoth" in 1 Esdras 8:62.

(2) A member of the house of Bani, and, like so many of that house, among those who married and put away foreign wives (Ezr 10:36). He seems to be named Carabasion (!) in the corresponding list of 1 Esdras 9:34.

(3) The name occurs in Ne 10:5 among those who "seal the covenant" with Nehemiah (Ne 10:1). It may there be the name of an individual (in which case there were 4 of the name), or it may be a family name. Certainly a "Meremoth" came back under Zerubbabel 100 years before (Ne 12:3), and the signatory in question may be either a descendant of the same name or a family representative. The name recurs later in the same list (Ne 12:15) as "Meraioth" through a scribal error confusing the two Hebrew letters yodh (y) and cholem (o) for mem (m). A comparison of Ne 12:1-3 and 12:12-15 shows clearly that it is the same person. Note that in 12:15 "Helkai" is the name of the contemporary leader.